


What Is Winning?

by mmouse15



Category: Transformers: Prime
Genre: AU, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:34:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22084243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mmouse15/pseuds/mmouse15
Summary: What if the scene where Optimus and Megatron faced Unicron's spark went a little differently?For the Secret Solenoid 2019 exchange.
Comments: 9
Kudos: 29
Collections: Secret Solenoid '19-'20





	What Is Winning?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Theotherguysride (SniperinaJumper)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SniperinaJumper/gifts).



> This fic is part of the Secret Solenoid 2019 exchange and is a gift for Theotherguysride/Jazzybot
> 
> Notes for requestor: all the prompts were so amazing! It was really difficult to choose just one. In the end, I hope you like the prompt I chose.

Megatron put his Decepticon symbol next to the reader, and the door opened. He entered, and Optimus Prime followed him into the chamber that contained Unicron's spark.

Optimus attempted to overwhelm Unicron, but was rebuffed by a lash of Unicron's spark energy. As Optimus lay on the ground, recovering, Unicron reached out to Megatron, telling him to listen.

As Megatron struggled against the overwhelming presence of Unicron, another presence made itself known.

"Megatronus?" asked Megatron.

"No longer, I am the Fallen," the presence replied.

"Why are you here?" Megatron asked.

"Unicron is allowing me to use him as a conduit to this dimension, because I need to speak with you," Megatronus told him.

"Why?"

"You are traveling down the path I chose, Megatron. Are you sure it is the correct path?" Megatronus asked.

"What do you mean? Of course it is the correct path. It is the path of revolution, of freedom!"

"Is it?" Megatronus' voice was heavy with doubt.

"Yes! You rebelled against the other Primes because they constrained you, tried to push you into a mold of their choosing! They let you take on the burden of being the executioner of the Primes, without supporting you!" Megatron's voice rose as he defended Megatronus.

"No," Megatronus told him, "I chose that burden. I have had millenia to think about this. I chose my own exile, you know. I killed Solus, my own beloved, because I believed she stood in my way. She was trying to save me, and I killed her."

"But, you were the strongest of the Primes! That is why I chose you as my role model," Megatron said.

"I was the strongest physically. Prima was the strongest mentally. He would have taken on the role I chose, but in my blindness and folly, I refused his help. I took on the darkness and grew to resent my own brethren because they were not shadowed as I was," Megatronus told him, his voice husky with memories.

"But you succeeded in overpowering the Primes and striking your own path!" Megatron pleaded.

"Is that the story? No, Liege Maximo Prime led me to believe that I was superior to the others, such was his skill as a manipulator. He wanted the Primes to rule Cybertron under his leadership, not Prima's. I fought against them until I killed Solus and the others overwhelmed me and banished me. I could be angry. I was angry, for millennia, for being removed from Primus' protection and for being banished. I raged against Primus, against Cybertron, and against Earth. I raged until I was insane with anger and grief. Then Vector came to my dimension, and we spoke for many eons. It was he who showed me the deception of Liege Maximo, and how my anger was stopping me from seeing the truth. Liege had wanted to rule the Primes and he used me to eliminate his competition. I regret Solus' death; I do not regret Liege's," Megatronus sounded sad, and Megaton shuddered to hear the layers of sorrow in the words spoken.

Megatronus continued, "I have had a very long time to work through my anger and my grief. I was lied to by Maximo, but I chose my path. I chose to fight against the other Primes, and I chose to kill. I chose to try to remove my brothers, to take the place of Primus, and to remake Cybertron as I pleased."

"That is good!" Megatron told him.

"Is it? Does killing accomplish anything except death? How does so much death color the events that happen afterwards?" Megatronus asked. 

"Death is necessary for revolution," Megatron replied.

"Possibly," Megatronus agreed, "but how far do you take it? Where is the line between revolution and tyranny? When does a revolution become a dictatorship?"

Megatron snorted in disbelief. "I cannot believe you think I would fall prey to the idea of tyranny. I fought against the High Council because they gave too much power to the rich. Under their guidance, the rich became richer and the poor went without basic needs being met."

"Agreed," Megatronus replied, "the High Council was short-sighted and prone to keeping the power of the Council in the hands of the rich and influential. You did the right thing, starting a revolution. My question to you is, when have you achieved your goals? When does the killing stop, and the rebuilding of our world begin? Do you intend to fight until Cybertron is an empty husk?"

"NO!" Megatron roared.

"No? Then when do you stop?" Megatronus' voice was oddly gentle.

Megatron stayed silent, thinking.

"Yes. You are wiser than I am," Megatronus told him. "I cannot do what you are doing without Vector's guidance."

Megatron raised his helm and looked into the spark of Unicron for the first time, and asked, "Are you sure Vector did not have reasons of his own to guide you to these conclusions?"

"That is a good and valid question," Megatronus answered, "and no, I cannot be certain. But Vector only asked questions to guide me. He did not give me answers, and he left before all my questions were asked. I wanted the power of Primus, as a recompense for the darkness I cloaked myself in. I wanted his light, to cast away my own shadows. That...is not possible. Once darkness stains you, it never goes away. I wanted the impossible. So I ask you, Megatron, when do you stop? When do you cease fighting, and begin rebuilding? When is enough reached? When does the war stop? What is your goal?"

Megatron snarled back, "My goal was to tear down the High Council and all that it stood for, to let the lowest of the low rise up and take their place as equals to the Council."

"It is a good goal. A righteous goal. A worthy goal. Have you reached it?" Megatron asked him.

"No, because the Council exists no more. There is no comparison to where we are now, because the war has wiped away all remnants of our civilization," Megatron told him.

"Exactly," Megatronus said.

Megatron fell silent. Megatronus waited patiently.

"Are you saying I should stop fighting?" Megatron finally asked.

"No, not if you have not achieved your goals. But where is the demarcation? What is the difference between a revolutionary, striving to change society for the better, and a tyrant, wishing to keep the same structure, only with himself at the peak? Are you a tyrant, Megatron, or a revolutionary?" Megatronus' voice was gentle, and Megatron softened under the attention.

"Have I achieve my goals?" Megatron asked, his voice soft and quiet.

"The society that held you down, that kept you as a miner and then a gladiator, no longer exists. There is only war, and death, and destruction from here on. You tell me. Have you achieved your goals?" Megatronus asked him.

Megatron thought for a long time, turning over the many things Megatronus had said. Finally, he raised his helm and looked at Unicron's spark.

"Yes. I have. I have achieved my goals," he said, proudly.

"Then stop the war," Megatronus said, "or you run the very great risk of becoming that which you fought against."

"A High Council member?" Megatron asked sardonically.

"A tyrant, keeping some down to elevate others," corrected Megatronus.

Megatron bowed his head in acknowledgement.

"Think on it, Megatron. In your servos lies the fate of the remaining Cybertronians, the children of Primus," Megatronus said.

Megatronus' spark slid away, leaving only Unicron, who raved at Megatron to kill the Prime.

"Megatron answers to no one!" Megatron roared, as Optimus invoked the power of the Matrix of Leadership, which struggled against Unicron's spark before destroying it.

Megatron was the first to rise, and he stalked toward Optimus, who lifted his helm and asked, "Where are we, Megatronus?"

Megatron stopped in his tracks, seeing the innocence of his old friend, Orion Pax. He reached a servo down and helped Orion to his feet.

"We are at the end of the war, my old friend."

~Fin


End file.
